DRINKING WATER
Why Multi‑Commodity Utilities Need Smart Meter Data Management
Breaking down data silos allows multi-commodity utilities to improve operational efficiency and infrastructure visibility. By managing water and electric data on a shared platform, providers can detect leaks faster and support long-term conservation goals.
DRINKING WATER CASE STUDIES AND WHITE PAPERS
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![sentinel-AOP]( "Treating 1,4-Dioxane Using Advanced Oxidation Processes")
Treating 1,4-Dioxane Using Advanced Oxidation ProcessesWhat is 1,4-dioxane, and why is it an issue? Read this article to learn more about this byproduct and how it can be treated.
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![iStock-1178266427]( "How The Right Tools Are Boosting Consumer Engagement")
How The Right Tools Are Boosting Consumer EngagementBy some accounts, as much as 20 percent of water utility customers across the U.S. aren’t aware that they have an active water leak. Until those customers understand that a leak is negatively impacting their water bill, they will likely have little interest in the underlying data.
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![GettyImages-989526528 sardinia]( "Addressing Water Scarcity With Intelis wSource Smart Meters")
Addressing Water Scarcity With Intelis wSource Smart MetersRead about an island that worked with Itron to reduce water losses in Sardinia by installing smart meters that accurately measure consumption and detect leaks. The goal is to improve water conservation and billing efficiency.
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![Case Study Report For Z-88® Radium Removal – City Of San Angelo, TX]( "Radium Removal For A Large Treatment System")
Radium Removal For A Large Treatment SystemThe City of San Angelo, TX selected WRT’s Z-88 Radium Removal treatment system for reducing high levels of radium in their wells. The city’s Phase I treatment plan was fulfilled in 2014 with the installation of the first Z-88 Radium Removal treatment system. This large treatment facility has been reducing the levels of radium below the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) since it’s inception.
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![WOL_key-west_cs_385x250]( "Key West Resort Utilities Maximizes Reuse And Nutrient Recovery")
Key West Resort Utilities Maximizes Reuse And Nutrient RecoveryWater scarcity poses unique challenges to KW Resort Utilities Corp. (KWRU), the utility firm that provides wastewater management, wastewater recovery, and wastewater treatment in the region. KWRU began operation in the late 1960s and has worked hard over the decades to keep up with wastewater needs as population and tourism have boomed, spurred by land reclamation and development.
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City Of San Diego Water Plant Switches From Chlorine Gas To On-Site Hypochlorite Generation To Reduce Risks, Improve Safety And Decrease Costs
With virtually no local water sources available for use, the City of San Diego relies on water from the Metropolitan Water District, which imports its water from the Colorado River and the California State Water Project. The two massive water projects bring water from other watersheds and regions hundreds of miles to the north and east.
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![Three More South Dakota Cities With ‘The Need For Speed’ Choose ALPHA™ Joint]( "Three More South Dakota Cities With 'The Need For Speed' Choose ALPHA Joint")
Three More South Dakota Cities With 'The Need For Speed' Choose ALPHA JointThree more cities in South Dakota – Rapid City, Sisseton and Watertown – are now using the AMERICAN Flow Control resilient wedge gate valves and fire hydrants with ALPHA restrained joint ends. The ALPHA joint restraint can quickly be installed by one person and uses only one single stainless steel bolt, saving time, labor and money.
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![GettyImages-834830686_450_300 (002)]( "Being Clear On Turbidity")
Being Clear On TurbidityThis article will clarify the essential aspects of turbidity, how it can affect human health, and how best to measure and mitigate it.
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South Mesa Water Co. Improves Customer Service, Conservation And Operational Efficiency With Hot Rod™ From Mueller Systems
Operational efficiency and conservation are increasing in focus among water utilities across the United States, however, they are especially important to Calimesa, Calif.-based South Mesa Water Company.
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![City Upgrades AMI System In Order To Boost Efficiency, Increase Revenue, Advance Conservation Efforts, And Improve Customer Service]( "City Upgrades AMI System For Boost")
City Upgrades AMI System For BoostThe city of Yakima was in search of a vendor who could provide a turnkey solution with a quality product line. The selected vendor also needed to have an endpoint that could withstand the extreme conditions experienced inside their meter pits.
DRINKING WATER APPLICATION NOTES
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Real-Time Water Quality Data For Agriculture9/23/2020
We arm farmers with mission-critical water data to help enhance crop yield and taste. KETOS delivers valuable insights for fluctuations in deficiency and toxicity.
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Innovative Solutions To Drinking Water Decontamination In Small And Medium Treatment Plants9/21/2017
Air stripping technology effectively removes VOCs, THMs, and CO2 for improved adherence to water quality regulations.
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Ion Exchange Resins Reduce Pollution From Refineries12/23/2013
A single operational oil and gas refinery produces millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater a year, leading to environmental pollution concerns. Ion exchange resins are a metal- and ion-removal solution to help clean this wastewater for plant reuse or safe disposal. This application guide explains how resins can be used to demineralize refinery water in process, boiler, and cooling water applications.
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A New Way Of Designing With Reverse Osmosis Membranes7/23/2015
Process design in water treatment is historically confined to proprietary or user-defined spreadsheets on a unit operation basis, with users manually adding results from each unit process upstream into the next operation.
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Improved Efficiencies In TOC Wastewater Analysis For Standard Method 5310B And EPA Method 41510/16/2014Total organic carbon (TOC) measurement is of vital importance to the operation of water treatment due to organic compounds comprising a large group of water pollutants. TOC has been around for many years, and although it is a relatively simple analysis in theory, operational efficiency is paramount.
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Application Note: Miami Conservancy District Uses Nitrate Screening As Conjunctive Management Tool1/20/2010Tasked with monitoring a watershed covering nearly 4,000 square miles, almost 2,300 miles of rivers and streams, and a huge aquifer that provides drinking water for more than 1.2 million people, water quality monitoring specialists at the Miami Conservancy District (MCD) in Dayton, Ohio, have their hands full. By YSI
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Ultrapure Water For Determination of Toxic Elements In Environmental Analyses4/10/2018
In this paper the importance of reagent water quality for toxic element environmental analyses is discussed, and the suitability of fresh ultrapure water produced using MilliporeSigma water purification systems for ICP-OES and ICP-MS trace element analyses in environmental laboratories is demonstrated.
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Irrigation Technology In Agriculture: How New Technologies Overcome Challenges1/29/2019
As the world’s population continues to increase at a fast pace, more food and water will be needed to sustain humanity. In the past 50 years, we have tripled our need for water and food, and there are no signs of this trend slowing down. As a result of these conditions, smart, innovative agricultural practices are needed now more than ever. Technology can, and already does, aid agriculture in innumerable ways. One prominent part of agriculture that can use technological innovation to increase efficiency and effectiveness is irrigation.
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Protection Of Membrane Systems Utilized For Municipal Water12/1/2020
As water scarcity issues around the world become more acute, more municipalities are having to turn to alternative water sources for potable water supplies. Also, many municipalities in coastal areas are seeing the quality of their water sources degrade as sea water intrusion occurs.
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Aquafine Ultraviolet Treatment Systems For TOC Reduction1/29/2025
Aquafine TOC reduction units coupled with ion exchange systems or EDI will oxidize trace organics into smaller ionic species, carbon dioxide and water, which are more readily removed by ion exchange resins, EDI, and/or degasifiers.
DRINKING WATER PRODUCTS
U.S. Pipe’s TR-XTREME® pipe is engineered for seismic resilience, providing the first domestic ductile iron pipeline capable of expansion, contraction, and deflection within a single restrained bell joint.
Improve your experience in nitrate measurement with Hach's new NT3100sc sensor. Backed by a legacy of reagent-free UV absorbance technology expertise, Hach's NT3100sc UV Nitrate Sensor is equipped to meet your unique application needs. Whether measuring nitrate in municipal sewage treatment plants, surface water, untreated water or treated drinking water, you’ll have the choice of 3 different path lengths to fit your measurement ranges and turbidity compensation needs.
The PHOSPHAX sc Phosphate Analyzer is environmentally controlled for rugged, outdoor installations, provides a wide measurement range for a variety of wastewater and drinking water applications (e.g. in the activated sludge basin, for phosphate elimination and my more), and comes with the fully featured "Plug & Play" digital controller.
The PermaNET SU leak detection loggers are a key part of our product lineup. These loggers function as acoustic sensors attached to the external surface of clean water distribution pipes. The leak detection process involves two main steps: first, the loggers measure the noise level emitted by the pipes and then evaluate it against a predefined threshold. Made in America and winner of the Environmental Protection Award, these loggers exemplify top-notch quality and reliability.
Welcome to our award-winning MDM software, Harmony Encore. We took our best-in-class Harmony MDM software and completely reenvisioned every aspect including its design, interoperability, user experience (UX), and speed to bring North American utilities an entirely new solution experience that solves today’s most pressing utility challenges and those of tomorrow.
Endress+Hauser launched E-direct, an online store that allows customers to easily and securely order high quality measurement products at competitive prices.
LATEST INSIGHTS ON DRINKING WATER
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![pregnant_water-Getty-2207189112]( "Drinking Water Contaminated With 'Forever Chemicals' During Pregnancy Linked To An Increased Risk Of Childhood Asthma")
While most of us are routinely exposed to low levels of PFAS, some communities are exposed to far higher levels from nearby pollution sources. A new study shows that in one of these at-risk communities, children were more likely to develop asthma if their mothers were exposed to very high PFAS levels during pregnancy.
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![wastewater ecological damage-GettyImages-2231956262]( "The Pragmatic Shift In Source Water Protection: Moving From Symptom Management To Root-Cause Accountability")
A shift in how we approach source water protection is long overdue. Currently, we are trapped in a cycle of escalating costs, forced to treat symptoms like algae and invasive weeds expediently with chemicals while the underlying risk in the reservoir compounds. True risk management requires breaking this cycle. -
![River water pollution, Ecological-GettyImages-1215336784]( "The AWWA Said $2.4 Trillion. It Missed The Compound Interest.")
Einstein once said of compound interest, "He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn't, pays it." The same logic of compounding applies to the organic sediment accumulating on the floor of your drinking water reservoir. The longer you wait to address it, the more exponentially expensive it becomes to fix. -
![snowystream-Getty-521971897]( "Winter's Alarmingly Low Snowpack Offers A Glimpse Of The Changing Rhythm Of Water In The Western U.S.")
The April 1 snowpack measurement has long been the single most important number in western water management, considered a strong proxy for how much water the mountains are holding in reserve. But in 2026, that savings account has been woefully deficient. -
![ColoradoRiverDam_Getty-1280300802]( "Why Colorado River Negotiations Stalled, And How They Could Resume With The Possibility Of Agreement")
Why Colorado River Negotiations Stalled, And How They Could Resume With The Possibility Of AgreementThe five most common sources of conflict between people are values, data, relationships, interests, and structure. The current Colorado River negotiations include all five. -
![Water droplets, PFAS, Forever chemical water contamination-GettyImages-2173433890]( "Designing Resilient PFAS Treatment Strategies For Water Agencies")
Water agencies across the U.S. are facing a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that poses a conundrum: Should they take a cautious or aggressive approach to treating PFAS contamination in their water system?
DRINKING WATER VIDEOS
Appearing on The Weather Channel's "Wake Up With Al" morning show, water expert Dan Theobald puts drinking water to the test by measuring total dissolved solids (TDS) in tap water samples from Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey, as well as bottled water samples.
Discover how integrated membrane system designs can maximize the operating stability of EDI systems and reduce mixed bed regeneration frequency.
Check out this brief video with Greg, and industry veteran and our Product Manager for Measurement technologies, as he provides a lowdown on the new AWWA Standard covering solid-state meters which are increasingly being adopted by water utilities of all sizes.
ABOUT DRINKING WATER
In most developed countries, drinking water is regulated to ensure that it meets drinking water quality standards. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administers these standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Drinking water considerations can be divided into three core areas of concern:
- Source water for a community’s drinking water supply
- Drinking water treatment of source water
- Distribution of treated drinking water to consumers
Drinking Water Sources
Source water access is imperative to human survival. Sources may include groundwater from aquifers, surface water from rivers and streams and seawater through a desalination process. Direct or indirect water reuse is also growing in popularity in communities with limited access to sources of traditional surface or groundwater.
Source water scarcity is a growing concern as populations grow and move to warmer, less aqueous climates; climatic changes take place and industrial and agricultural processes compete with the public’s need for water. The scarcity of water supply and water conservation are major focuses of the American Water Works Association.
Drinking Water Treatment
Drinking Water Treatment involves the removal of pathogens and other contaminants from source water in order to make it safe for humans to consume. Treatment of public drinking water is mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Common examples of contaminants that need to be treated and removed from water before it is considered potable are microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.
There are a variety of technologies and processes that can be used for contaminant removal and the removal of pathogens to decontaminate or treat water in a drinking water treatment plant before the clean water is pumped into the water distribution system for consumption.
The first stage in treating drinking water is often called pretreatment and involves screens to remove large debris and objects from the water supply. Aeration can also be used in the pretreatment phase. By mixing air and water, unwanted gases and minerals are removed and the water improves in color, taste and odor.
The second stage in the drinking water treatment process involves coagulation and flocculation. A coagulating agent is added to the water which causes suspended particles to stick together into clumps of material called floc. In sedimentation basins, the heavier floc separates from the water supply and sinks to form sludge, allowing the less turbid water to continue through the process.
During the filtration stage, smaller particles not removed by flocculation are removed from the treated water by running the water through a series of filters. Filter media can include sand, granulated carbon or manufactured membranes. Filtration using reverse osmosis membranes is a critical component of removing salt particles where desalination is being used to treat brackish water or seawater into drinking water.
Following filtration, the water is disinfected to kill or disable any microbes or viruses that could make the consumer sick. The most traditional disinfection method for treating drinking water uses chlorine or chloramines. However, new drinking water disinfection methods are constantly coming to market. Two disinfection methods that have been gaining traction use ozone and ultra-violet (UV) light to disinfect the water supply.
Drinking Water Distribution
Drinking water distribution involves the management of flow of the treated water to the consumer. By some estimates, up to 30% of treated water fails to reach the consumer. This water, often called non-revenue water, escapes from the distribution system through leaks in pipelines and joints, and in extreme cases through water main breaks.
A public water authority manages drinking water distribution through a network of pipes, pumps and valves and monitors that flow using flow, level and pressure measurement sensors and equipment.
Water meters and metering systems such as automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) allows a water utility to assess a consumer’s water use and charge them for the correct amount of water they have consumed.